


Gold Still Glitters

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25062607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: A request from @xmxisxforxmaybe on Tumblr: "Sledgefu: A quiet, cozy night in with the cats. Maybe Snafu is feeling a little insecure bc Gene’s spending a lot of time with new friends at school? He feels a little left out bc Gene is always talking about them, but Gene doesn’t realize it until he really slows down and really listens to/looks at Snaf while they’re snugged up on the couch. If you want to 💞💞💞"
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Gold Still Glitters

**Author's Note:**

> Ended up putting together a playlist of what I listened to as I wrote this, so if folks are wanting some extra atmosphere as they read, here it is: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2z3p8nXomzQRkWjvY3PK5a?si=uK7XQngWTtOg7UlG5dUm_A

He knew Eugene wouldn’t make dinner, he hadn’t for the past couple of weeks. Busy at the university library, studying away with a few classmates he’d gotten to know better as the semester had gone on. He’d even met a few of them now, Ted and Michael and a particularly intimidating man who, despite having the highest grades out of any of Eugene’s friends, insisted on going by his nickname of Flea. It was given to him in the Army, and was actually short for Flea-Brain, but Eugene had talked him into using just Flea. Good-hearted boy couldn’t bear to call a new friend something like that is what it was, and it made Snafu’s heart swell. That was his man, being so sweet!

But his heart hurt as he sat at the table alone, set for two on accident. It was simply his habit now, and he hadn’t even realized he’d done it until he sat down to the gumbo he’d made. 

Delilah hopped up onto the extra seat, her little nose delicately touching the bowl meant for Eugene, and that broke him. 

“This is stupid,” he scolded himself as the tears rolled. He wiped them away in between spoonfuls of his dinner. “Isn’t it, Delilah? I should be happy your papa is out there makin’ new friends. It’s a good thing.” 

She meowed softly, and he gave up on the food. That felt equally silly, putting it all away right away after he’d worked most of the day to make it, but his appetite was gone. 

Better was sitting in the bedroom with Delilah on his lap, the other cats scattered on the bed and Ack Ack with his soft nose batting at the hand Snafu let drop down to where the dog was sat on the floor. The radio played, and seemed desperate to drag him down even as he tried to clamber back up, as they rotated through love song after love song, mixed with more melancholy hits. If not for the cat sleeping on him, he’d have turned it off. 

Despite the whirring wheels of his mind, he found himself drifting off when the front door suddenly slammed. 

“Snaf? Sorry I’m so late!” 

Eugene’s voice echoed down the halls, but Snafu couldn’t bear to answer it. 

“Snafu? You here?” 

Delilah woke and looked at him, as if asking why he wasn’t responding, but he didn’t make a sound.

“Merriell?” 

He listened as Eugene’s footsteps came up the stairs, then to the bedroom. 

“Thought I heard music,” Eugene said as he opened the door. “What happened?” 

Snafu shook his head. He loved Eugene, but as wonderful as it was to see him, he wanted nothing more than to be alone until he got over his feelings, the stupid frustration that told him to call Eugene on it, on getting home so late and missing dinners, on only having time for homework and friends but little for his husband. But Eugene hadn’t done anything wrong, and it wouldn’t be fair to yell and shout and fuss at him for doing what every other student was doing, trying to learn and work and live and balance it all. 

“You’re crying,” Eugene said softly, and strode over to the bed, carefully moving the cats in way of his sitting next to Snafu. “Something happened. Tell me; I’m here to listen.” 

Delilah purred as he lifted her to his shoulder and buried his face in her fur, hoping to hide the next burst of tears. 

“Okay. I don’t know what this is about, and I want you to tell me, at some point. But if you aren’t ready yet, that’s okay. Tomorrow’s Saturday though, and I’ve got nowhere to be. No extra classwork, no study sessions, no extra hours at work. Thought maybe that would mean we could stay up a little together. Do some reading, or just sit and relax, whatever you might want. If you want,” Eugene said, gentle as anything, and it made the tears fall even harder. 

“I gotta borrow your dad, Delilah,” Eugene continued as Snafu set her down beside him, and she meowed at the loss of lap. “Y’all come on down and join us if you want, okay?” 

A few meows and a tiny woof from Ack Ack answered him as he turned off the radio, then led Snafu downstairs, and Snafu knew they’d probably stay put. It was late now, nearly eleven at night, and the pets had their routine they didn’t like to deviate from, especially for bed time. It would also mean they wouldn’t get their bed back for the night as the cats would take it over, but there was always the guest bedroom. 

“How was your day?” Eugene practically chirped, as cheerful as the birds he loved watching, though the bags under his eyes told a different story, or at least screamed a need for a decent night of sleep. 

“Okay.” 

“Just okay? You get a full day off of work and it’s just okay?” 

Snafu shrugged. “Made gumbo. Spent most of the day in the kitchen, ‘cept for headin’ out to the market for a few things.” 

Eugene stopped and stared at him as they reached the living room. “That’s all?” 

“I don’t know,” Snafu snapped in spite of himself. “I cooked, and I tried to clean some while the supper was simmering, and the damn back door knob was loose again so I fixed that, and I kept the cats and dog in their food and cuddles for the day, and cleaned up the litter boxes and Ack Ack’s corner of the backyard, and-” 

He sighed, exasperated. “I kept busy. I don’t know what you want me to say. I know I’m not nearly as busy as you get, but I tried to make my day off something useful.” 

Eugene took a deep breath, and Snafu braced himself. Eugene didn’t deserve that yelling, but he hadn’t been able to hold back, and he’d deserve whatever Eugene tossed back at him. 

Instead, Eugene took his hand and kissed it. “I meant, did you do anything for you? Read something you like, listen to a good record? Hell, just take a nap?” 

“Oh,” Snafu said, and shrugged. “No. I didn’t do any of that.” 

“Sounds like we got stuff to do tomorrow then, to catch you up on some relaxin’,” Eugene smiled. “Come on. Come lay on the couch and be lazy with me.” 

“It’s gonna be midnight before we know it,” Snafu said. “Not that I don’t want to, but you need to sleep-” 

“There some law against fallin’ asleep on the couch with my man?” 

Snafu grinned. “No, there isn’t.” 

“Well then, I say we’ve got a reservation over here,” Eugene tugged gently on his hand, pulling him till they both fell back on the couch together, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “I missed you today.” 

The lump in his throat was back again, the tears threatening to fall again, his heart hurting again as they adjusted to lay more comfortably on the couch, and he tried to respond without his voice breaking. “Missed you too.” 

“You gonna talk to me now?” Eugene murmured as they snuggled close. “C’mon. You know I’m not gonna let you sit all melancholy like y’are right now. Out with it.” 

“…I shouldn’t be upset by it. Because it’s a good thing,” Snafu sighed. 

“Okay, we’re getting somewhere!” Eugene’s voice rumbled in his chest, pressed as close as they were, his back to Eugene’s chest, Eugene’s arm draped over him. “But maybe this good thing isn’t good for you?” 

“It’s good for someone I love, so it should be good for me too,” Snafu replied. “Because I love them, and I want good things for them.” 

“Well that’s…good,” Eugene said, then chuckled. “But that doesn’t mean whatever this is couldn’t still upset you somehow. Can’t help how things make you feel, sometimes.” 

“I know. But…” 

“You can tell me what it is, you know that,” Eugene whispered. 

“Alright. I…it’s been a little difficult. Without you home at night. Eatin’ dinners alone, goin’ to bed alone even some nights. And then when you do come home-” 

Snafu cut himself off with a sigh and resisted the urge to turn and bury his face into Eugene’s chest, and not say anymore. “When you do, as much as I love hearing about your new friends, and I do, I really do, I swear it, sometimes it feels like that’s all we talk about, and then it’ll be so late it’s already time for bed and then the sun rises and we do it all over again and I miss you.” 

He turned then, and focused on the beat of Eugene’s heart near his ear as he continued. “I’m proud of you in a way I can’t even put words to, because it just overwhelms me, you goin’ back to school and all. And I’m happy you’ve made friends, because you should! It’s good. But sometimes I miss that little bit of extra time we had, for just us. Even though I know that we’ll still find that time again, in one way or another, because things can’t stay the same forever, but gold still glitters even after you melt it down and make it into something new.” 

Eugene was silent, and Snafu fought the urge to break away from him and run upstairs, to avoid the storm that his words were surely going to bring. Granted, Eugene had never been that way with him, but other lovers had in the past, and he never wanted to make Eugene that sort of upset, but if anything would…perhaps this would.

“God, Flea was right. I always tell him how mad I am that he’s the smartest asshole outta all of us in the classroom, and now I gotta tell him he was right again, and he’s smartest about things like this too.” 

Snafu moved his face out of Eugene’s chest. “Things like this?” 

“He told me tonight, that he could tell last time we were all hangin’ out together that you seemed like you felt left out, and that he couldn’t believe that the man I described to them could be the same as the quiet and sad-lookin’ man I’d brought with me that day. And I figured maybe you were just tired or had a rough day at work and I didn’t ask…and I should have asked. I’m sorry, Snaf.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Snafu said as he carefully moved Eugene’s arm and sat up. “I’m bein’ a damn fool over this. I’m a grown man, actin’ like a child because I’m not gettin’ enough attention.” 

“No,” Eugene protested softly, and sat up so he was right beside him, their thighs touching and Eugene’s hand reaching for his. “You’re my husband, and you love me, and so you’ve been missin’ me and I didn’t notice, and that’s not right. I been watchin’ you go about your night after I get home, but I wasn’t paying any attention, and I should have been.” 

“I gotta do the same for you,” Snafu said.

“You have been! Who else would listen to me blabber on and complain about school, talk for hours about the dumb shit those boys at school tell me? You’ve been lookin’ right at me, keepin’ your eyes trained on me to keep me feeling happy and loved, and I looked back but I looked right through you,” Eugene replied. “No more of that. I promise.” 

The tears slipped down his face yet again before he could stop them, and he could hear Eugene’s soft sound of confusion as he closed his eyes and chuckled. 

“Happy tears, I promise. I’ve never had anyone I was with react like this. I was waitin’ for yellin’ and carryin’ on, so this is,” Snafu shook his head and laughed. “This is so reassuring and wonderful and I…I just love you so damn much.” 

Eugene’s arms wrapped around him, and held him tight. “I love you too, and I’m gonna show you just how much more often. Starting tonight.” 

“I think you did just now,” Snafu said. “But if you’ve got something else in mind, you know I don’t often say no to you.” 

“We’re gonna have to kick the cats off the bed for it,” Eugene smiled and kissed him softly.

“You mean pick them up and carry them into the guest room, and drag Ack Ack’s bed in there since he likes sleepin’ with ‘em so much?” Snafu asked against Eugene’s lips before kissing him back, letting his hand move to wrap around Eugene’s neck, a thumb caressing his cheek. 

“Exactly,” Eugene said as they parted lips, foreheads still touching. “You ready for bed?” 

“I am. Now that you’re here with me,” Snafu sighed, and held Eugene’s hand tight as they stood and headed for the stairs. He couldn’t believe he’d ever gotten so lucky, that the universe had given him so sweet a man. 

But he was so happy to have him, to be his forever, and to know now more than ever, that Eugene was his always as well.


End file.
